McCain unveils anti-drug plan in South Carolina

By JAMES PIERPONT
Reuters

February 8, 2000
Web posted at: 2:26 p.m. EST (1926 GMT)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - Sen. John McCain, returning to the state that is vital to his Republican presidential campaign, Tuesday called on fellow veterans and teenagers to join him in a war against drugs.

Speaking to students at South Carolina's Criminal Justice Academy, the senator from Arizona pledged to form a nationwide program to pair troubled teens with veterans who could teach them "the virtues of discipline, civic responsibility, integrity and character."

McCain, a former Navy pilot and Vietnam War POW, also vowed to incorporate the war on drugs into his foreign policy, particularly to cut off the supply of cocaine and battle "narco-terrorists" in Colombia.

"The biggest threat in our hemisphere is no longer communist dictators, but drug lords trafficking in death, civil disorder and destruction of democracy -- financed with U.S. drug profits," he said.

McCain delivered his address as he resumed campaigning in South Carolina, where has climbed from more than 20 percentage points behind Texas Gov. George W. Bush to running neck-and-neck in advance of the crucial Feb. 19 primary.

NEW BUSH ADS

Seeking to slow McCain's momentum, which began with a 19-percentage point victory in the New Hampshire primary a week ago, the Bush campaign has struck back by portraying McCain as a Washington insider.

A Bush television ad airing in South Carolina attacks McCain's tax-cut proposal as too small, labeling the Arizona senator as a "Washington Democrat."

Still, McCain's populist campaign has been pulling in independents and conservative Democrats, and its message on campaign finance reform has struck a chord with some Reform Party members seeking a viable candidate in November.

"I'm hoping that if McCain comes on strong enough with campaign finance reform, then the Reform Party will endorse him," said Fred Everett, a 56-year-old Atlanta businessman who joined the Reform Party in 1992.

The McCain campaign, once all but limited to New Hampshire and South Carolina, now is also focusing on Michigan and his home state of Arizona that hold Republican primaries Feb. 22 in hopes of winning enough support to raise money to compete in California March 7.

The campaign has bankrolled more than $2 million in campaign pledges through its Internet site since the victory in New Hampshire.

"I am convinced that if we win the first four primaries, we can win the Republican Party's presidential nomination," McCain said.

On that list, McCain did not include Delaware, which was holding its Republican primary Tuesday but where McCain did not campaign.

"I have no thoughts about Delaware," he said as the polls opened there.

Instead he went to a town hall meeting in North Augusta, South Carolina, where he blasted special interest money and soft-money contributions pouring into rivals' campaigns.

"Right now, the Democrats and Bush campaign are now setting up these organizations that will funnel tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions of dollars, and do the same thing that happened in 1996," he said.

McCain was referring to allegations of illegal campaign fund-raising by the Clinton-Gore campaign, which he said should have been investigated by Attorney General Jane Reno.

"Al Gore can raise all the corrupt money he wants to. I'll raise hell," he said.